Posts Tagged ‘Whoopi Goldberg’
Wednesday, July 8th, 2026
July 2, 1996 (in video stores)
Until now I had never seen THEODORE REX. Obviously I always intended to see it – Iâm not a heathen. But I took my time, and also I always got it confused with TAMMY AND THE T-REX. Thankfully this Slam Evil Summer series gave me motivation to finally see it, so now I know what itâs all about, at least to the extent that one can know that just from watching it.
I need to come up with a name for this type of movie. Itâs most similar to SUPER MARIO BROS., which also has dinosaurs and cyperpunky stuff, so Iâm kinda thinking DinoPunk, Dino Noir, something like that. But theyâre fantasy world-building movies, usually set in a dystopian future or alternate world, theyâre usually sold as kids movies and have some aggressively juvenile humor (often perpetrated by buffoonish henchmen with wacky voices) but otherwise donât really seem like theyâre made that much for kids (like, this one has a murder investigation complete with dinosaur autopsy). Also for some reason they tend to feature souped-up garbage trucks. But the most distinguishing feature is that theyâre a big mess that seems full of the sort of colorful gimmicks and special effects I love (matte paintings and huge soundstage sets depicting stylized cities, animatronic creatures) but none of it really coheres and the whole thing is a slog. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Bud Cort, Carol Kane, DinoPunk, George Newbern, Joe Dallesandro, Jonathan R. Betuel, Juliet Landau, Peter Kwong, Richard Roundtree, Robert Folk, Stephen McHattie, Whoopi Goldberg
Posted in Reviews, Family, Science Fiction and Space Shit | 12 Comments »
Thursday, August 22nd, 2024
August 12, 1994
CORRINA, CORRINA is a nice comedy-drama that deals with grief, love and some heavy race and class issues in a very light, warm-hearted sort of way. Is that bad? We can talk about it later.
Manny Singer (Ray Liotta between NO ESCAPE and OPERATION DUMBO DROP) is a recently widowed jingle writer in suburban Los Angeles, 1959. His 9-year-old daughter Molly (Tina Majorino, also in the seal movie ANDRE this summer – sorry, I had to skip a few things) is so not-over-it she refuses to speak, but heâs gonna be screwed if he doesnât return to work, so he looks for a housekeeper/nanny to stay home with her. After some misfires he ends up with Corrina Washington (Whoopi Goldberg, also in THE LION KING and [briefly] THE LITTLE RASCALS this summer), who seems cynical at first but of course forms an adorable bond with the kid.
In 1994 I wasn’t interested in things this cutesy, and never considered watching it. Now Iâm a middle-aged cornball, so I found it moving to see Whoopi turn that little girl’s cartoonish pout into a giggle. Majorino has a pitch perfect deadpan for the non-speaking portions and then a timid little mouse voice when she does talk (spoiler). She breaks your heart when she lays in the grass with her dead momâs dress laid out next to her, one hand in its pocket, or when Manny lies to a deliveryman that Mrs. Singer is in the bath tub and she lights up and runs to the bathroom to see her. Damn, Manny. What a fuck up. So then youâre primed for the opposite emotion when she notices her dad slipping and referring to Corrina as âyour motherâ and she doesnât point it out but breaks into a huge, toothy grin. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Brent Spiner, Bruce Surtrees, Courtland Mead, Don Ameche, Erica Yohn, Jessie Nelson, Joan Cusack, Larry Miller, Lin Shaye, Patrika Darbo, Ray Liotta, Steven Williams, Tina Majorino, Wendy Crewson, Whoopi Goldberg
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs, Drama, Romance | 2 Comments »
Monday, August 12th, 2024
August 5th, 1994
My friends, I hope you know me well enough to understand that Iâm being sincere here, Iâm not trying to show off with a wild take. The truth is I recently watched and enjoyed the movie THE LITTLE RASCALS. It kind of rules.
This was not an outcome I expected, or even considered. For the 30 years this movie has existed Iâve scoffed at it, assumed it was crap. Yes, it comes from director Penelope Spheeris, she of excellent punk rock documentaries. But Iâm gonna have to pull out the Shaquille O’Neal âI wasnât familiar with your gameâ quote here. I wasnât showing the proper respect. I had some idea she lost it after WAYNEâS WORLD, because I thought BLACK SHEEP was kinda cheesy and all the rest seemed like things I wouldnât like. I assumed this was some pablum for kids from an era where pablum for kids was extra bad. (See: 3 NINJAS KICK BACK.)
But here I am trying to watch most of the major movies of summer â94, it was about the only situation where I was gonna give THE LITTLE RASCALS a shot, and almost immediately I realized I was probly gonna like it. Itâs silly, itâs for kids, it might creep some people out by having children woo each other like theyâre Popeye and Olive. But it made me laugh a whole bunch, itâs daring in the way it straight up does old Hal Roach shit and doesnât try to conform to â90s expectations, it actually makes sense as part of the Spheeris filmography, and (most surprising to me) itâs artfully crafted. I guess mostly in the way that she could piece together a sensible movie with 95% of the cast being 5-7 year old non-actors, but also itâs a great looking movie! Credit to the transfer, which has a good level of film grain. I did not expect to watch THE LITTLE RASCALS 1994 and think âThey donât make âem like this anymore!â But here we are.
(read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Amblin, Bug Hall, Chris Pederson, Courtland Mead, Daryl Hannah, Eric Edwards, Flea, George Wendt, Lea Thompson, Mel Brooks, Penelope Spheeris, punk, Reba McEntire, Roger Corman, Whoopi Goldberg
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs, Family | 21 Comments »
Thursday, December 1st, 2022
Hereâs a story I may or may not have told before. It takes place on February 28, 2001. A few minutes before 11 am there was a 6.8 earthquake epicentered in the southern Puget Sound. I was at work and I saw some shelves wobble and a few things fall down, but nothing serious. Downtown there was some damage – some vehicles got crushed by falling bricks, and I remember a couple clubs where bands used to play in Pioneer Square (OK Hotel and Fenix Underground) were wrecked enough they went out of business. I called my roommate at home to make sure none of my stuff broke, and he made fun of me.
After work I went to Pacific Place to see this movie MONKEYBONE. All the advertising looked cheesy, but I was hoping it might be interesting because it was from Henry Selick, the director of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. Unfortunately the advertising was pretty accurate. I remember a couple times during the movie something playing on a bordering screen made a loud rumble that vibrated the whole row I was sitting in. I thought about the three escalators I took up through the mall to get to the theater, and the fourth escalator inside the theater that goes up to the floor where this one was showing, and I thought, âThatâs an aftershock, and the building is gonna collapse, and Iâm gonna die watching fucking MONKEYBONE.â (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Bob Odenkirk, Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda, Chris Columbus, Chris Kattan, Dave Foley, Doug Jones, Giancarlo Esposito, Harper Roisman, Henry Selick, John Turturro, Lisa Zane, Mark Ryden, Megan Mullally, Sam Hamm, Sandra Thigpen, stop motion animation, Thomas Haden Church, Whoopi Goldberg
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs, Fantasy/Swords | 21 Comments »
Friday, June 24th, 2022
SISTER ACT was released on May 29, 1992 and is of course the Golden Globe nominated feel-good fish-out-of-water comedy smash hit starring Whoopi Goldberg (last seen in THE PLAYER) as a lounge singer who witnesses a murder is put into witness protection pretending to be a nun in a convent and then ends up leading and reworking their choir. Itâs not the type of movie I usually review, and I donât really know how to dig as deep into it as I do on some of these, but I want to write about it if only to make this point: this, the most mainstream middle-of-the-road normal movie in this summer of â92 retrospective so far, has kind of the same story as the (no pun intended) most alienating one, ALIEN 3, which came out the week before.
Think about it. Deloris is trying to escape from an unpleasant situation (dating mobster Vince LaRocca [Harvey Keitel in the same year as RESERVOIR DOGS and BAD LIEUTENANT]) when catastrophe forces her to seek shelter and live primitively within a tight knit community of same-gendered (female in this case) devout Christians. Sheâs made to look like them (wearing a nunâs habit rather than having her head shaven) and is unwelcome to some, particularly the person in charge (the Reverend Mother [Maggie Smith between HOOK and THE SECRET GARDEN] rather than the warden). But she ends up using her unique skills to lead them all in accomplishing the seemingly impossible (in this case making their choir sing well rather than killing a xenomorph without weapons). (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Adam Greenberg, Bill Nun, Carrie Fisher, Emile Ardolino, Harvey Keitel, Kathy Najimy, Maggie Smith, Nancy Meyers, Paul Rudnick, Reno, Robert Harling, Wendy Makkena, Whoopi Goldberg
Posted in Comedy/Laffs, Reviews | 14 Comments »
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
HOUSE PARTY 2 has that typical sequel problem: holy shit, the first time we were just doing what we wanted to do, now we gotta live up to people’s expectations. So in the beginning they kinda redo the beginning of the first one. It’s another fog machined dream of people dancing, but this time they got recent Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg to do a cameo as an evil professor. And there’s lightning and stuff. Spooky.
They also had a less typical sequel problem: holy shit, the best part of part 1 died right after it came out. So they dedicate the movie to Robin Harris, have Kid say a little prayer to Pop, have photos of him around that sometimes come to life in brief clips from part 1. At the very beginning of the movie Kid says, “About that party – you were right to whoop my ass,” referring to the beating he was about to get as the credits rolled. Weird that that’s what his mind jumps to when he remembers his dad. Only way I can explain it is either Kid knows he’s in a movie about that house party, or Pop died while administering that beating.
(read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: hip hop, Kid 'n Play, Martin Lawrence, Queen Latifah, Tisha Campbell, Whoopi Goldberg
Posted in Comedy/Laffs, Reviews | 69 Comments »
Saturday, July 17th, 2004
See, the few of you out there who read this shit, you say I should write these things more often. And I like to write them, to get all this out of my system, but at the same time I feel like a broken record. (For you kids, a record is a large black double sided CD used for hip hop scratching, and when it is “broken” or badly scratched it plays the same part over and over. That’s what it means, saying the same thing over and over, it’s an analogy.) Because it’s always the same themes, just the details are different.
I just looked a few columns back, and I was complaining about how ludicrous it is that, with all the blood on the hands of the Bush administration (and let’s be honest, it’s not just on the hands anymore, these fuckers are dipped head to toe like the dance club vampires at the beginning of BLADE), that the media matrix would really try to convince us that we should set that all aside, get over it, and focus our outrage on JANET JACKSON’S NAKED TITTY and THE NIGHTMARISH HORROR OF TWO MEN WHO LOVE EACH OTHER HOLDING HANDS. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Whoopi Goldberg
Posted in Vern Tells It Like It Is | 1 Comment »
